Mickey Z

Cool Observer

Friday, August 19, 2005

The day I hypnotized the NYPD (plus: Mumia and Cindy)

Posted by Mickey Z on 08/19 at 06:12 AM

My girlfriend, who’s German-Bulgarian, flew into Los Angeles in 1991 right before the first Iraqi invasion - and the first thing she saw in arrivals was a huge picture of George Bush.01 smiling, she said it was such a communist thing to do she felt like she’d just landed in Moscow.

Posted by Owen on from Barcelona 08/19 at 07:39 AM

land of the free! i don’t think so.... they charged me 7 dollars coming over the border at niagra....i was only going in for a beer to say i had been in the US as i was in canada

Posted by michael on from scotland 08/19 at 09:31 AM

yeah - so, far from being free it was the most expensive beer i ever had. 7 dollars to cross the border and 4 for the beer.

Posted by michael on from scotland 08/19 at 09:34 AM

Owen, your comment reminds me of something I heard Helen Caldicott talk about: The number of flags she sees when she travels across the U.S.

Michael, the land of the free incarcerates its citizens at the rate of 1200 a week...so watch out.

Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 08/19 at 10:03 AM

i know. just didn;t expect to be charged money to enter the land of the free thats all!

Posted by michael on from scotland 08/19 at 10:07 AM

Hey, someone’s gotta pay for all them bombs.

Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 08/19 at 10:09 AM

for what its worth i would like to see more of the place as the US and canadian sides of niagara are , in a word, shit. also reading zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance right now and that makes me want the open road thing. that said, there is plenty of country here still to explore.

hey , whoever it was that mangaed to stick a photo onto the comments seciton here a while ago could you tell me how to do it?

Posted by michael on from scotland 08/19 at 10:13 AM

I think it was Luna_C who posted the image. Also, I’ll bet Harry can help you with that, Michael. Harry? Luna? You out there?

Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 08/19 at 10:15 AM

sorry...should have explained myself better there. the falls are incredible. amazing..really. its the towns themselves that are not exactly worth seeing if you know what i mean.

in a smart move i also lost a bank card right outside the casino on the canadian side!

Posted by michael on from scotland 08/19 at 10:16 AM

huh, what? Oh yeah I did that....

Actually it was easy, I uploaded a picture to my website and just pasted the URL in my post. The blog displays it on it’s own without having to add any extra code.

http://www.imageshack.us/
Image Shack can host pics if you want to upload one. Or you can link directly to it if you copy the image location.

Peace,

Posted by Luna_C on from me 2 u 08/19 at 10:37 AM

Seeing the pic of Mumia reminds me of a story recently told to me by my cousin who just came back from Philadelphia. He went out for a philly cheese steak sandwich and saw two places serving them right across from each other. One was filled with white people, the other filled with people of color. Why? Because the restaurant with the white people had a painting of a cop that said “in memory of the fallen officer killed by Mumia” or something like that. I just thought that was an interesting little story. You ever been around there, mickey? Or anyone else?

Posted by RB on from 08/19 at 01:31 PM

The “Open Road” is not what it used to be, Michael. The geography & geology are still amazing, of course, but now, every town IS every other town: An Arco gas station with a mini mart and an Exxon station with its mini mart, across the street. One is flanked by a Hardees “Restaurant,” and the other is next to a Carl’s Junior “Restaurant.” These are followed by a Wal Mart, a Home Depot, a Lowes, a Staples a Taco Bell, a McDonalds, Burger King and Wendy’s. Down the road, there’s a Denny’s next to an Outback Steak House across from Appleby’s. Just down the block is a Border’s Books which is across the street from Barnes and Noble Books which usually has a Starbucks Coffee somehow affixed to it. There’s a mall nearby with a Macys, or a Sears or a Pennys or Nordstroms as their main anchor stores, and all the rest of the stores inside are the same stores as you’ll find in all the other malls, everywhere. On the way out of town you’ll pass an IHOP and five or ten “chain” motels - Motel6, Best Western, Days Inn, Super 8, Holiday Inn, Travelodge, Comfort Inn… Many if not most if not all of our major public structures - Baseball and Football parks, major Arenas, Convention Centers and the like are now “sponsored by” and “named after” corporations: In San Francisco, it’s SBC Park, in New England its Gillette Stadium, in Albany, New York, there’s the Pepsi Arena… in Baltimore its the M&T Bank Stadium… and so on.

OK. Now, Michael, you’ve seen the US. This immense and magnificent continent has been reduced to… just this. God Bless America.

Posted by joe on from land of the sleeping 08/19 at 01:46 PM

Ah yes, Joe. You’ve mapped out the coast-to-coast mall we call home. The United States of Anywhere.

RB: I don’t really know Philly that well but it’s not hard to imagine the scenario you describe. Last time I was in the City of Brotherly Love was two years ago to do a few book talks. Things did not go well...but we did find an amazing vegan pizzeria.

Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 08/19 at 01:57 PM

As far as the searching goes, my husband Mario (dark skinned) was one of the first to get searched. He takes blood for a living, so his bag was full of empty vials and needles. Luckily, they barely searched it then let him go. It’s so ironic that now he’s FINALLY legal with a greencard they give him a hard time.

I’ve heard of women getting searched and having their journals read and being threatened with strip searches.

Posted by Christine Hamm on from not in my backyard 08/19 at 03:20 PM

That would make for an interesting article or, if expanded to include airports, perhaps a book. A collection of personal stories about being searched...including stories from the cops and airport workers.

Thanks, Christine. Always a pleasure to hear your voice.

Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 08/19 at 03:27 PM

Have you guys observed just who they’re searching, generally? I’d expect it would be people of color, as Christine notes, and “freaky,” or unusual looking, young white folks… I’d imagine that “businessy” looking white adults would be left alone. Is that, essentially, accurate?

Posted by joe on from Oregon 08/19 at 04:34 PM

I’ve been on the subways an awful lot since the searches began but, other than the episode I wrote about above, I haven’t witnessed any of it.

Anyone else?

Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 08/19 at 05:47 PM

Well, maybe some other time, eh Mickey? The photo on your front page shows a young, “normally dressed, normally groomed” white person. I’m sure we’ll learn a lot, as time passes.

Perhaps you can teach us this Jedi mind-control technique. Next time Bush gives an address, we’ll all concentrate like hell: “You will resign the presidency and abolish government. Chomsky & Zinn can take over in the interim. You will resign the presidency and abolish...”
It’s worth a try.
BTW, thanks for the Whitman quote, Mickey.
And, hey - when are you leaving for Texas? Tomorrow? Wazup?!

Posted by joe on from Oregon 08/19 at 09:25 PM

Yeah, I guess that photo proves that the searches are somewhat random. As for the Jedi thing...if only, huh?

Michele and I are off to Texas tomorrow as you surmised. I’m counting on you to keep things running smoothly here in my absence.

Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 08/19 at 09:37 PM

Michael, what you need is an image hosting service. Photobucket is free for small usage. http://www.photobucket.com/ You might also try Flickr. http://www.flickr.com/. All the kewl kidz are using Flickr for the social software functions it includes. Both make pasting an image into comments dead simple.

Mickey, have a safe trip and give my best to your mother. I’m sorry that I don’t have anything even resembling a story to tell.

Posted by Harry on from 08/19 at 10:49 PM

I think I can speak for everyone in wishing you and Michele a safe, pleasant journey. And, of course, immense good hope for your Mom, Mickey.
Be Well.

- joe and everyone…

Posted by joe on from Oregon 08/19 at 11:08 PM

i know what you mean joe. its not that different here. when i speak to americans about europe there are two usual positions. they either think its a bit backward and not like america or they think its highly cultured...and not like america. the truth is that though the names might be different its the same companies using different names and trading the same stuff. i am lucky in this country because we do have a lot of untouched country here still. its all mountains and it takes hours to get anywhere and its fantastic but in the cities and suburbs and along the main roads its exactly as you describe.

i won’t be back on till monday and i will reply then but can i ask a question? has anyone been to anywhere in the EU and did they charge you to enter? i read a crazy thing that said only 10% of US citizens have a passport. that seems weird to me.

Posted by michael on from scotland 08/20 at 05:12 AM

Thanks, Harry and Joe. Your sentiments are much appreciated and pass them along to Mom.

No worries, re: story. So many of you tell a story every time you leave a comment.

Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 08/20 at 07:01 AM